Pond Still Gets the Clippers on Part-Time Basis

So what if the Clippers spurned the Pond and picked the Staples Center as their new home? With no full-time NBA tenant on the horizon, the Pond has invited the Clippers to maintain their part-time residence in Anaheim.

Their agreement to play some games in the Pond extends for four more years, but the team can get out of the deal after each season, according to Joe Safety, Clipper vice president of communications. The Clippers have committed to play nine games in Anaheim--one an exhibition--this season.

Although the Clippers will move into the Staples Center for the 1999-2000 season, Safety said the team has not ruled out a continued association in Anaheim. Because they rank behind the Kings and Lakers in scheduling priority at the Staples Center, the Pond offers an attractive alternative for dates that may be unavailable to the Clippers in the new arena.

More important, Safety said, the Clippers may renew their part-time Pond tenancy “for the same reason we went down there: to successfully set up a series of games that would extend our trademark into that market.

“We’ve sold very well down there. It isn’t determined that we’re going to walk away from it.”

The Clippers have attracted an average of 15,144 to 31 regular-season games in Anaheim. No game drew fewer than 10,000.

“I am in the business of booking events,” Pond General Manager Tim Ryan said. “If everything is worked out, I look forward to the Clippers playing a percentage of their season here for as far forward as I can see.”